Jean Craighead George - My Side of the Mountain: Literature Guide

This review of Jean Craighead George's book, My Side of the Mountain, is my official entry into hadassahchana's and dramastef's very ambitious and progressive Fight Illiteracy Write Off.

"Let us serenade the conservationists who have protected the American wilderness, so that a boy can still be alone in this world of millions of people."

So toasts Bando, the English professor who befriends young Sam Gribley, a teenage boy who runs away from the City to live off the land in a remote valley of the Catskill Mountains. With just primitive tools (an axe, a penknife, a ball of cord, $40, and some flint and steel), Sam carves out a niche for himself in the wild. He makes his home in a hemlock tree, learns to trap small games, makes clothing from pelt, and trains a falcon to be his companion and hunting mate. Alone in this world of millions of people for a year, but accompanied by many of us who still dream the same dream of such an escape every day.

It is an extremely engaging tale written in first person as Sam Gribley takes us through his days in the woods. Most of us have dreamed of doing what Sam does in the book. And while Jean Craighead George never did run away in real life, she does a marvelous job of realistically imagining how such an escape could be done. Any lover of the great outdoor would find this book captivating. The author is very gifted in her ability to convey the story clearly in very few words. Her restraint from drawing too descriptive a picture allows me to imagine this story in my own mind (even thought there are sketches of many of Sam's inventions, the plants, and the animals he encounters).

The story is idealized to a degree. I guess Ms George mustn't like snakes much, since no a single one is mentioned in the book ...and I very much doubt that the Catskill Mountains are so ideally free of those reptiles. Sam's adventure involves learning from many mistakes (which are educationally explained for the readers' benefit), though it is noticeable that he is more observant and resourceful from the get go than one would expect a 14 yrs old boy to be. That his parents wouldn't go looking for him for months seems a bit too far-fetched for me, though. My mom called the cop and got them to track my credit cards when I was 2 days late in 'checking in' while traveling between golf tournaments once.... And I was 20 yrs old then!

To be sure, this book doesn't encourage kids to run away from home. It is simply an imagined account of how a person can escape from civilization and live independently in the wild. A very American tale of the quest for freedom and identity that also doesn't neglect to portray the downside of isolation in Sam's moments of loneliness. The book clearly illustrates that even though living free has its appeals, it is also human nature to seek companionship. I find Ms George's portrayal of what Sam does to cope with various circumstances very accurate. Though I should note that aspects of society have changed since this book's publication in 1959 (I think people are more suspicious now, and that his parents would be in so much legal trouble in today's world!).

I don't know how I managed to miss My Side of the Mountain in my childhood years, but I'm very grateful to have belatedly discovered it now. The book that awakened the sleeping book-worm in me as a kid was Honoré Morrow's On To Oregon, whose realistic depiction of how young John Sager managed to keep his family together as they migrated west on the rugged Oregon Trail from Kansas City to the Willamette Valley captured my imagination. So when I came across the Fight Illiteracy Write Off, I searched all the bookstores in town for a new copy of On To Oregon... but alas, it has gone out of print and isn't easy to find. Finding My Side of the Mountain instead has been a real treat, however. I shall have many re-read of this volume and I'm quite confident that the young reader who will receive a new copy of it via this write-off will find it both entertaining and educational at the same time.